LinA comes to us from Halifax, a city with a deep and unique hip hop history. The former model has been quietly developing her skills on the mic behind the scenes, and has only recently made herself known on stage. Working with J-Bru, who signed her to his Bru-Print label, she drops her debut record, hoping to establish herself as a serious artist.

Ideally, I’d like to think that we’ve come far enough that anybody can pick up a mic and they don’t have to justify their appearance and background before we consider them seriously as artists. Of course, I’m not that naïve, and I realize that’s a big factor with LinA’s debut record. From the title of the album, to the lyrical content, LinA spends a lot of her time proving that she’s hard and skilled on the mic - don’t pay attention to the fact that she’s pretty, white, and blonde. This is both a blessing and the curse to this record. It’s forcing her to try really hard, but sometimes that just gets in the way. Shit-talking is a tricky area in hip hop. When it’s done really well, a clever emcee can make a point that’ll make you laugh and think at the same time. When it’s done even on a mediocre level, it can be trite, unfunny, reinforce stereotypes, and do more harm to the larger hip hop culture than intended. When LinA is telling stories, such as on “Used To Know Her,” with Chad Hatcher, in relates the effect domestic and drug abuse, it’s very personal and moving. It gets to the best of LinA, using her music to relay something larger and more important than just her rhymes. On the flip side, songs like “Talk Shit” with J-Bru and “Haters” with Ebony allow LinA to fall into some of the worst trappings of trash talking in hip hop, with uninteresting production and lines that aren’t always clever. On top of that, she gets into some dicey areas. Talking about slapping bitches, even when coming from another woman is still harmful and helps perpetuate the same old poor perceptions about hip hop. It’s also in “Talk Shit” in which LinA declares she’s the new Rah Digga, which I think helps illustrate the biggest problem with her - she’s trying to prove herself as “real” by defining herself through another artist. We all have our influences, but declaring yourself the new version of an older artist just sets yourself up to fail. It’s also troublesome when that artist comes from a different ethnic background, era, and city. Just be yourself, and you’ll be fine. It’s when she’s not trying to be hard and putting on these airs that she really shines. “All Woman,” and her reworking of “U.N.I.T.Y.” with Eternia, Jessie Brown, and Tonye Aganaba are amazing feminist hip hop anthems, and get me really excited about the potential of LinA. We just don’t get it all of the time on this album.

It’s not perfect, but the best of LinA that comes across on Not Just a Pretty Face has me extremely excited about her potential. Once she gets over proving herself as “hard” or “real,” and just relies on her own abilities as an emcee to tell her own stories and make people think and feel, she’ll be fine. Until then, I’ll remain conflicted but hopeful.